(If Mint says "no", then I sure won't.)

A friend was moving after a divorce and gave me the stuff in his freezer. I noticed the quail was from 1993, 1995, 1998 etc.

I was going to throw a bucket from 1996 in the woods and saw that it looked pretty good. So, I washed it and fried a couple of legs and a beast and it tasted good. There was no hint of freezer-burn.

However, I read that freezing didn't kill bacteria - it only slowed it down. So, would bacteria multiply after 15 years and cause problems, especially when frying birds, which sometimes just barely get cooked long enough because you have to guess when they're really done?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2008 03:14PM by Dennis S.

Quote
Dennis S
(If Mint says "no:, then I sure won't.)

A friend was moving after a divorce and gave me the stuff in his freezer. I noticed the quail was from 1993, 1995, 1998 etc.

I was going to throw a bucket from 1996 in the woods and saw that it looked pretty good. So, I washed it and fried a couple of legs and a beast and it tasted good. There was no hint of freezer-burn.

However, I read that freezing didn't kill bacteria - it only slowed it down. So, would bacteria multiply after 15 years and cause problems, especially when frying birds, which sometimes just barely get cooked long enough because you have to guess when they're really done?

Not from a home freezer.

BGnR

---

"Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto! You're beautiful!"
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."

Ask Paul F

He'll eat anything...

---

Aloha, Ken


“I have developed significant attachments to several members even though I wouldn't recognize them if I sat next to one on a park bench. I'm often tempted when in an airport to walk around, hollering "The Løpe", to see if anyone other than the Homeland Security people will acknowledge me. ” - The Løpe

"If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us." Justice Robert Jackson

mmmmm, fried beast.

Two first concerns would be loss of freezer power in the interum and then freezer burn (taste).
Then loss of flavor with age.(taste again)

If you cooked it to (the recommended temperature) you should be OK.

I don't see why , even fried, you can't stick a meat thermometer into the thickest section and se what it reports after a minute. It doesn't cool off beyond the surface that fast.

I wouldn't eat frozen quail from 2007 let alone 1993.

I don't think anything from 1993 is safe to eat.
He can't be a friend if he gave you frozen stuff from 1993-1998.
I can't believe you ate frozen food that's over ten years old. That quail could have been defrosted and frozen a dozen times by now. I sure hope we won't be changing your screen name to "the late Dennis S"

---

richorlin

The ultimate test is to try it...

As y'all can guess... I would try it.

---

Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

--

--
Eureka, CA

So far, so good. It's been a couple of hours. One concern is that it's in 5 or 6 containers, so any one of them could be bad. I gave a bucket to my brother-in-law. I wonder if I should warn him of the negative consensus here.

Wait a minute. I remember an ice storm in that town that caused a 10-day power-outage in 2001. There's no way it would have survived that, because his house is all-electric and it would get up into the 40's during the days. I'm throwing it out (unless mint wants me to Fed-Ex it to him.)

I can't recall where but I recently saw a guide detailing how long you can safely keep various foods frozen. The bottom line: 1993, no freakin way!

I think it is really odd that a friend would give someone food that had been lying around in their freezer for over a decade, whether they are moving or not. Why doesn't either he or his ex-wife want the food, anyhow? I'd throw it all out, no question.

---

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2008 03:57PM by $tevie.

[www.straightdope.com]

BGnR

---

"Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto! You're beautiful!"
"If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."
"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
"A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."

I have 10 year old Thai hot peppers that I grew in the freezer.
Don't touch your eye after handling.
They still flame my turkey chili. yum.

---

!#$@@$#!

proofraed by OwEn the c@t.

Quote
Fritz
I have 10 year old Thai hot peppers that I grew in the freezer.
Don't touch your eye after handling.
They still flame my turkey chili. yum.

I didn't know you could grow stuff in the freezer! Well, besides bacteria.

(Somebody was bound to say that, and this time I wanted it to be me.)

Hey, that old quail goes well with potatoe.

---

"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan

And we haven't heard much from him since 1993. Has be been on ice since then?

>
> Somebody was bound to say that, and this time I wanted it to be me
>


Now that's sig worthy

: -)

---

my manual defrost chest freezer was a $25 yard sale find

took it home, plugged it in, next day temp was -20F

don't believe food spoils quickly that that temp

temps are much less stable in the traditional kitchen fridge/freezer

We've made pies from 12-year-old frozen cherries from my mother's freezer.

Tasted great!


/Mr Lynn

---

"Hillbilly at Harvard"
Honky-tonk Country and Bluegrass
Founded in 1948 by Pappy Ben Minnich
Saturdays 9am - 11am Eastern
WHRB-FM, Cambridge, MA
Streaming at [www.WHRB.org]
Be there!
The HAH weblog: [hillbillyatharvard.wordpress.com]

Topical weblog: [walkingcreekworld.wordpress.com]

On the river in Saxonville.

I bet the quail would eat you so better make the first move!

Enough talk!

Suck it up and eat 'em.... you weenie!

---

Paul F.
-----
A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

--

--
Eureka, CA

is the vomiting over yet?

I wouldn't eat quail at all.